行ってきます | eetehkeymahss | we are leaving, and we will come back

Jul 18, 2017Jul 18, 2017

Surviving Summer [in the city]

The reality of summer in Tokyo is hot, humid and wet. To combat this, the Japanese have have packed the season full of festivals and fireworks. And of course, all of my rainy day suggestions are also great options for staying inside and beating the heat!

Our local festival is the Azabu-Juban Matsuri – a once a year outpouring of people to eat all the delicious street food.

Jake’s daycare also has there own summer festival, called the Yurarin Matsuri! We’ve been to one already, but forgot our cameras/phones so have no proof of the amount of effort the hoikuen put in to make this festival happen! Here are some from 2017!

And each year, Andrew’s birthday falls on the Tanabata Festival. According to legend, two gods, separated by the Milky Way, are allowed to meet only once a year on this day. The result is a festival with many bright lanterns, and many bamboo fronds popping up around the city on which people write their hopes and dreams (see below for one of Jake’s favourite songs which contains further details).

And finally, the fireworks. There are many opportunities to see these throughout the summer. In 2016 Andrew and I trekked out to the Edogawa fireworks. These fireworks were insane! 1.3 million spectators and 75 minutes of fireworks. It was without a doubt the most fireworks I’ve ever seen! It was almost trance inducing at certain stages. The noise of the display and the struggle to get back into Tokyo were real, ergo, Jake will likely not get to experience this bonanza. I think we finally made it home by 1am after walking quite some distance.

And here are some videos of the experience too! Because pictures can’t capture the musical accompaniments that went with the experience.